Comparing flickering and pulsed chromatic pupil light responses

Abstract

The pupil light reflex (PLR) can serve as a biomarker of the photoreceptor function. Protocols for chromatic PLR consider mostly pulsed stimulation. A more sophisticated and promising technique is based on the PLR to flickering stimulation. Our aim was to compare flickering PLR (fPLR) and pulsed PLR (pPLR) parameters to validate the fPLR paradigm. Two different experiments were carried out in young participants to compare parameters of chromatic pupillary measurements under flickering and pulsed conditions. We found that the fPLR amplitude parameter was significantly associated with the pPLR transient constriction parameter. Also, for some conditions, pulse parameters can be identified directly in the fPLR recordings.